By GABI ZEDLMAYER, Vice President of HP’s Office of Global Social Innovation

OPINION

Today, Good Morning America reported on the important work that mothers2mothers is doing in sub-Saharan Africa, helping moms work together to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. In the 10 years since the organization was founded, it has grown from one site in Cape Town, South Africa to more than 700 sites in nine countries in the region and currently supports more than 300,000 HIV-positive pregnant women each year .  At HP, we are very proud to partner with mothers2mothers (m2m) to support this vital work.

Last month at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting in New York, HP joined m2m in committing to continue this dramatic growth and support an additional 20,000 women and their newborns. One important factor in making m2m’s growth possible will be using technology to enable quicker and more effective analysis, reporting and information sharing between the organization’s Mentor Mothers and the moms they serve.  HP is helping m2m effectively integrate paper-based patient records and information with digital data and information.

This transformation and innovation will make it easier for Mentor Mothers to track, monitor and follow up with clients and their newborns.  Rapid and easy access to this information will allow for informed and targeted outreach and follow-up, which can make Mentor Mothers’ work all the more effective.  The latest training materials and other updates will be right at hand for Mentor Mothers.  Plus, the new system will streamline the way they do their work every day, for instance cutting out time that is currently spent transcribing information from one paper notebook to another – time that could be much better spent in direct work with moms.

As m2m co- founder Gene Falk put it, “HP is helping us move into the digital world so that our Mentor Mothers will be able to use their time to work with clients instead of keeping records.”

Check out this video below to hear how technology plays a role in helping m2m make a difference in other mothers’ and babies’ lives.